Design Thinking & Social Innovation Resources

Design Thinking

Design thinking, also called human-centered design, taps into the creative abilities we all have, that typically get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive and to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Human-centered design is a process used across industries and sectors. It is inspired by behaviors rather than demographics, takes place in natural contexts versus controlled settings, and relies on dynamic conversations rather than scripted interviews. Ultimately, it is a process that helps teams transform difficult challenges into desirable solutions—all through design. (From +Acumen Human-centered Design Workshop)

Social Innovation

The Stanford Social Innovation Reviewdefines social innovation as "the process of inventing, securing support for, and implementing novel solutions to social needs and problems." These new strategies or concepts are designed to meet the needs of certain communities or to fill gaps in the fabric of society. Simply put, it is a an attempt to make life better for people facing challenges or lacking support from conventional systems.

Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to social problems. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions. Social entrepreneurs present user-friendly, understandable, and ethical ideas that engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of citizens that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement it. Leading social entrepreneurs are mass recruiters of local changemakers— role models proving that citizens who channel their ideas into action can do almost anything. (from Ashoka website)

Shared Value

Just as social entrepreneurs are redefining how non-profits do social good, the business community is also looking for ways to fundamentally "do better by doing good." "Corporate Social Responsibility" started as a movement where companies began to give donations and do projects to give back to their communities. While this was helpful, it did not change the fact that many companies at their core still had business models that hurt the environment or exploited workers. Shared value is a management strategy focused on companies creating measurable business value by identifying and addressing social problems that intersect with their business. The shared value framework creates new opportunities for companies, civil society organizations, and governments to leverage the power of market-based competition in addressing social problems.

Collective Impact

Although individual social entrepreneurs have done amazing things and created incredible organizations, our biggest social challenges still remain too large to tackle by individuals alone. Collective impact starts by identifying key challenges and bringing together organizations from different sectors to solve it together.